Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

Accelerated Long-Term Forgetting as an Objective Indicator of Subjective Cognitive Decline

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Madeline A. Sullivan¹, Carina C. Samson¹, David A. Gallo¹; ¹University of Chicago

This study will enhance our understanding of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in older adults. Research suggests that SCD can reflect subtle memory problems that precede the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but these subtle effects often go undetected on objective neuropsychological tests. Here, we will test the hypothesis that accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) can serve as an objective indicator of SCD. ALF is a phenomenon where episodic memories are retained at a normal rate over short delays but are forgotten at an abnormally rapid rate with longer delays, making it undetectable on standard clinical neuropsychological assessments with delays of only 30-60 minutes. The current work will compare memory performance between older adults with low or high levels of SCD at multiple retention intervals (15 seconds, 20 minutes, and 24 hours). Memory tasks include a paired-associate task, which tests memory for recently learned associations, as well as the DRM task, which assesses the impact of recently learned associative categories on the formation of false memories. We predict that high-SCD participants will exhibit accelerated long-term forgetting, with a significant memory deficit at the 24-hour delay but with minimal or no differences in memory performance at the short delays compared to low-SCD participants. That is, high-SCD participants exhibiting ALF will retrieve fewer items on the paired-associate task, and they will be less influenced by associative information on the DRM task. Results from the present study may contribute to the development of more sensitive diagnostic tools, aiding in the detection of preclinical AD.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Development & aging